Arkansas teachers will get the chance to improve their craft at any time and at any location with Internet access through online professional development training slated to start this fall.

State Department of Education officials said Tuesday that a professional development network known as Arkansas IDEAS (Internet-Delivered Education for Arkansas Schools) will allow teachers to obtain some of the state-mandated 60 hours of training per year.

Janine Riggs of the Department of Education said a variety of offerings in reading, writing, math and science will be available online.

Time spent online will be monitored so that it may apply to the 60-hour requirement, whether a teacher logs into the Web portal at school or at a home computer, officials said.

Professional development for school administrators also will be offered, Riggs told members of the House and Senate education committees.

“I think this is a real critical initiative that offers the hope of doing professional development in a 21st Century way instead of a 19th Century way,” said Sen. Jim Argue, D-Little Rock. Argue is chairman of the Senate Education Committee.

The Legislature, during an April special session, authorized $500,000 to pay for enhanced professional development. Riggs said the money will support two additional Department of Education employees - one to help coordinate professional development work and another assigned to deal with issues related to the online courses.

Rep. Jodie Mahony, D-El Dorado, said school districts should be supportive of the Internet initiative, which will give classroom teachers help without costing local schools more money.

The state partnered with the Arkansas Educational Television Network to create the Internet portal.

Riggs said the state is developing an Arkansas History course for educators that includes oral history accounts from the state’s World War II veterans. The site will offer Web-based tours of Arkansas historical sites, including the Governor’s Mansion, she said.

Other courses on student testing data offered by the University of Arkansas and a technology program that would otherwise have a waiting list will now be available for online access, she added.

Riggs said most teachers probably would seek to use both Internet and real-time courses to complete professional development requirements.

“Professional development online is new, but what seems to be occurring is people still like that face-to-face,” she said. “We believe you need a balance, some of both.”

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This entry was posted by Taman Siswa on Wednesday, June 21, 2006 at 9:51 pm and is filed under Education News, Online Education. Tags: Education News, Student, . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.